Eye of the Tiger
by Kelyse Llewes
Summary: Sequel to A Criminal Mind. Draco is trapped inside Azkaban and in his memories of better times with Hermione. He feels her slipping from his grasp as his icy surroundings close in on him. Can he find the strength to hold on? HermioneXDraco. R&R.


Eye of the Tiger

**"Eye of the Tiger" is a song performed by the American rock band Survivor from the album Eye of the Tiger, released in 1982. It was written at the request of Sylvester Stallone for the film Rocky III. It was written by Frankie Sullivan and Jim Peterik and sung originally by Survivor. I do not own or claim any rights for this song. I feel it was very expressive for the emotions I wanted to convey in my story.**

There was no chance to let these feelings sink in. There wasn't anything he could do right now, but there was absolutely no way he would let this place erase her. She was everything he belonged to now. He had wished for the courage to go back to her after what had happened. But the Death Eaters code had prevented their reunion. Now he was locked away from the world, a place where she was surely to escape his memory. He couldn't let that happen though. He wouldn't.

He didn't know how long he'd been there. He didn't want to know how long. His facial hair now covered his chin fully. His bleach blond hair had grown to his shoulders. His face was shallow and sunken from malnutrition, and its yellowish tinge was due to the lack of light. He needed the light to survive. He was suffocating in here.

A streak of light came in through his window finally. He curled up on the opposite wall so he could feel what little warmth he could from the light. When he opened his eyes to the light, he could almost see her dancing in front of him, silhouetted by the shimmer of sunlight.

The sinking feeling in his stomach was lifted briefly. He could see her twisting in front of him, her hips swaying to the music and her face lit up with laughter…

_His hand curved around her waist, taking with him her rhythm, and he edged closer to her body. She was a remarkable dancer._

**Risin' up, back on the street  
Did my time, took my chances  
**

**Went the distance, now I'm back on my feet  
Just a man and his will to survive**

He hadn't given up on her. He could tell. He was going to go further than anyone had ever gone to get her back. He was willing to take that chance. He would get out of there and live through another day with her smiling face shinning down on him, telling him he was her everything, allowing her curves to become his own and he would never give her up ever again.

_His lips brushed her shoulder. She shuddered slightly, as if a cold chill had run down her spin, the delight of being kissed so innocently, and yet so intimately. She turned her head momentarily and he saw her bit her lip gently. She was glorious_.

**So many times, it happens too fast  
You change your passion for glory  
**

**Don't lose your grip on the dreams of the past  
You must fight just to keep them alive**

Why had he left her? He could no longer remember the answer to that question. She was everything he had ever needed and he had run from her. He'd run from them. Being a Death Eater was as close a future his father had. As a child he had feared, respected, admired, despised, loathed, loved his father. As he grew up, he'd seen the destruction his family had caused. Why had he followed that path? Glory? Honor? A family sacrifice for the cause perhaps? Whatever the reason, Draco Malfoy was disgusted at himself for thinking such vile thoughts. Being in Azkaban proved his worst nightmare. He'd lost sight of his dreams, had almost let them pass through his fingers, and slowly but surely, they were dying.

He could see her through that sliver of white light. The clouds passed over her figured, making her fade from his vision briefly, but then she always returned when the sun came back.

_He wrapped his arms around her shimmering body, dragging her close to his. He could feel her heart beat beneath his arms, her breath catch every time he looked at her._

**It's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight  
Risin' up to the challenge of our rival  
**

**And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night  
And he's watchin' us all with the eye of the tiger**

She was beautiful; there was no denying it. He couldn't ever imagine her not being beautiful. There was a time when his arrogance had driven him to think otherwise. Or was it his ignorance. His father pruned him to grow up just like him. He had watched Draco's every move, every breath, and he was choosy as to whom he was friends with. He guessed that this was his father's motives. Hermione Granger, a muggle-born beauty, she couldn't possibly measure up to his father's pureblood standards.

Draco had broken free of his father though. Head to head he had denied him in the end. He couldn't deny that he was very much like his father. The same cold glare, as similar to the ice walls that now surrounded Draco, and the same fight. Loyalty to the party: The Dark Lord.

Draco felt shame for giving her up for the Dark Lord. Voldemort had evaporated before Draco had come here. Nothing was ever going to sneak up on Hermione in the dark every again, and yet Draco couldn't protect her from the 1% chance that something might. Something that haunted her footsteps and he was a million miles away from her. Physically he was distant, but in spirit, in his heart, he had never been closer.

_She began to sparkle. There was nothing more magical than when Hermione danced for Draco. She had given him a light that no one would ever have imagined. He reveled in her sparkle, in her shine, and he would always want to be there when she shone the brightest._

**Face to face, out in the heat  
Hangin' tough, stayin' hungry  
**

**They stack the odds 'til we take to the street  
For we kill with the skill to survive**

Though he yearned for her, he never lost sight of where he was. He could be lost for days in his memories of her. She would become his silent reality and he would cherish those moments, never wanting to part with her spirit. The thought of her leaving him was unbearable and yet he realized that he had left her. Given another chance at life, he would have done it differently. Everyone had been against their being together. They had been set against by insurmountable odds. He had done what he had done in order to ensure she would live to dance another day.

He had seemingly obeyed my father's commands and wished. He wanted me to go one way and Hermione wanted me to go the other. He found himself drawn stronger towards his cold family than his warm and loving girlfriend. He had given her something to remember him by, as black as it was, he thought it might bring her hope.

***

"Draco," she whispered, holding him tight to her body, refusing to let him go. "Stay."

He held his tongue, afraid he might say something that would bury the truth, ignore the facts and give her false hope. "I have something for you," he said instead, making her pull back from her embrace. He reached around his side and pulled a long, black, silken material out of his pocket. He held it out in front of her with two hands.

Her eyes were glimmering with almost-tears. She took the scarf and pulled it over her head, tying it loosely around her neck. "I'll carry it with me always."

He couldn't help hugging her again, breathing in her scent. This wasn't a goodbye, but he knew he had to prepare himself. Giving her the scarf was step one, step two was to make her happy, and step three was the stage he dreaded. Somehow he'd found the strength, the guts to push on.

**Risin' up, straight to the top  
Have the guts, got the glory  
**

**Went the distance, now I'm not gonna stop  
Just a man and his will to survive**

He kissed her mouth lightly, the gentlest of pecks. He could have given her passion, desire and wanton delight, but he wanted memory instead. He wanted to look at her in the eye and see the woman he had fallen in love with. His father would never have believed him if Draco had claimed love for a mudblood. But in his heart, Draco knew it well.

"I love you, Hermione Granger," he whispered her ear.

She let out a gasp of air and pulled him closer to her, returning, "I love you too, Draco Malfoy."

It had given him the power to live through the next two stages. It was all he could do to give her a better life, without him, but a life nonetheless.

***

The light was fading. His dreams were fading. Hermione was fading. He couldn't let her though. She was the one candle in the dark that he had to look forward to. He might have been a criminal. He might have taken her through hell and back by leaving. He would return though. He had strength that he would return.

An earthly silence fell upon his prison. His heart frozen in time, his mind locked in memory, and his eyes fixated on the sliver of light that illuminated it all. He would find the courage to pursue his dreams, his fears, and his fantasies. Hermione would be forever young in his mind. She would have a pale, lightly freckled face, big brown eyes and hands that could move over his skin with effortless ease and comfort. She would love books, enjoy learning everything; absorb the world, as she knew it and how it was. She would look out over the horizon each morning and pray for the day ahead to be filled with sunshine and warmth.

She was his light in the dark, his white in black, his sun in the night, and his love when all seemed lost. She kept him sane and alive. He could feel his strength life, his senses heighten, and his eyes sharpen.

Looking forward out the window, watching the sun shift in the sky, his eyes watching every change, seeking out the seventh color in the rainbow, he saw her standing there before him, welcoming him into her heart now and forever.

_She reached for him. Hermione Granger, a bookworm, a muggleborn daughter and a woman with great passion, was beckoning Draco Malfoy, the son of Lucius Malfoy, a pureblood heir and Death Eater for the Dark Lord Voldemort. She pulled him towards her and when they touched, they ignited fires and hopes all around the world. They kissed and were swallowed in their pleasure. _

**It's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight  
Risin' up to the challenge of our rival  
**

**And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night  
And he's watchin' us all with the eye of the tiger**

Draco knew he was going to make it. He was going to get through the long and lonely nights of Azkaban prison. He would live to see another day. Breath in the air outside the cold and suffocating walls. Kiss the most beautiful girl in the world. He would watch time tick slowly and when the moment came to leave, he would have fought through it all, keeping sanity, salvation, and Hermione. A challenge well won.

**The eye of the tiger.**


End file.
